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Sharapova announced in March she had tested positive for meldonium, insisting she had been prescribed the drug since 2006 for "several health issues", including irregular heart test results and a family history of diabetes.  The 29-year-old also claimed she was unaware meldonium, which boosts blood-flow and can improve endurance, had been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list from January 1 th Sharapova described the two-year suspension as "unfairly harsh" and says she will lodge an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.  "While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension," Sharapova wrote on Facebook.  "The tribunal, whose members were selected by the ITF, agreed that I did not do anything intentionally wrong, yet they seek to keep me from playing tennis for two years. "I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport."

Meldonium was on Wada's watch list last year and in September the agency announced it would be banned from the start of 2016, citing "evidence of its use by athletes with the intention of enhancing performance".  Sharapova's results at the Australian Open, where she lost to Serena Williams in the quarter-finals, as well as her prize money and ranking points earned at the event have also been disqualified.  The Independent Tribunal's report concluded: "The contravention of the anti-doping rules was not intentional as Ms Sharapova did not appreciate that Mildronate contained a substance prohibited from 1 January 2016.  "However she does bear sole responsibility for the contravention, and very significant fault, in failing to take any steps to check whether the continued use of this medicine was permissible. "If she had not concealed her use of Mildronate from the anti-doping authorities, members of her own support team and the doctors whom she consulted, but had sought advice, then the contravention would have been avoided. She is the sole author of her own misfortune."